Grading the virtual classroom
We don’t know all that much about the virtual unknown, or that new world being created daily by the World Wide Web and the relentless advance of technology. But some things are indeed clear.
One of the clearest is that college will never again be the same experience it once was.
I’ve been teaching at the university level since 1978 when I divided my time at the University of Missouri between serving as a faculty member and a doctoral student. For the next 15 years, not much changed in college teaching. Then Tim Berners-Lee developed Internet protocols letting all of us go directly to a countless number of Web sites on our own through a variety of portals like MSN and Yahoo. Later, Netscape, Explorer, Google and YouTube came along.
Travis Johnson, vice presidentof the Minnesota State College Students Association, pictured in St. Paul last month, is getting his business administration degree online from Lake Superior College in Duluth. Minnesota colleges and universities say they are seeing big growth in the number of students taking online courses. (AP Photo/Minnesota Public Radio, Tim Post)
Then came developments in online educational software like Blackbaord, Desire2Learn, and E-Companion. From that point forward, there has been nothing but change in the college learning environment.
Virtual vs. Real Classrooms
So much so that today we have to distinguish between virtual classrooms and residential classrooms when we’re talking about college courses.
Why? Because a ton of teaching these days is done from a corner of Starbucks with students stretched out across the globe downloading the class from one time zone to another.
According to the Sloan Foundation’s 2007 report, “Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning,” the rate of growth in college online enrollments has surpassed the growth rate in residential campus enrollments.
Additionally, the report notes:
- Almost 3.5 million students took at least one online course during the fall 2006 term, nearly a 10 percent increase over the number reported in 2005, and double the 2002 enrollments.
- The 9.7 percent growth rate far exceeds the increase in overall college enrollments, which is only 2 percent.
- Nearly 20 percent of all college and university students were taking at least one online course in 2006. That percentage has gone up over the past four years.
- More than 4 million students are enrolled in accredited online college courses inAmerica in 2008-2009.
- Distance learning has gone mainstream and more than two thirds of all accredited colleges now offer distance learning (online) courses.
Not only are so many accredited, residential universities offering online courses, but some – like the University of Memphis – offer entire graduate degree programs online. And this university is part of a statewide online educational program (the Tennessee Regents Online Degree Program) that offers entire degree programs online. Some 8,000 students are enrolled in this RODP online program.
Emphasizing Online
Nationwide, a growing number of online universities, only a few of which have actual residential campuses as well, have sprouted up. Some are more legitimate than others, and some are glorified diploma mills. Among the legitimate online college are Kaplan University, Grand Canyon University, and Walden University. Add to that the online degree programs of recognized residential universities.
The online university you have heard most about is the large, well-established and well-promoted University of Phoenix.
Traditional university campuses are in competition with non-traditional online college programs today. (Photo by Jim Willis)
Most universities have found online courses and programs to be cash cows. Tuition is usually the same — even higher in some cases — for online courses as for traditional courses. Yet expenses are much less than for residential classes. Instructors are usually adjuncts, and there is no costly classroom nor lights,heating or cooling expenses.
Online courses are taught in one of two overall ways: synchronous (everyone meets in an online “classroom” at the same time) and asynchronous (students complete course modules on their own and usually engage in threaded online discussion with each other at various times).
Good and Bad Experiences
Like any course, an online course is only as good or as bad as the instructor teaching it. How that instructor takes advantage of the software technology available to teach the class in important. Some online class experiences can be quite good; others are nothing more than correspondence courses.
Sometimes students report their professors are “missing in action,” and complain these instructors don’t check in much online. The danger for any online professor is a kind of “out of sight, out of mind” mentality that can creep in, especially for asynchronous classes. Two or three weeks may pass before a prof gets to that stack of assignments that have been accumulating.
As for online degrees, or degrees earned totally through online programs or online universities, their credibility and acceptance varies in the business and professional worlds. Some programs are seen as more valid than others. Online degree programs of recognized residential universities — like the University of Memphis for example — have greater credibility, generally speaking, than a degree from a university that is totally or almost totally an online school.
In other words, all college degrees are not created equal.
What Kind of Accreditation?
In assessing online programs, it is important to check out not just the degree and courses in it, but to check out the university itself. What kind of quality control does it have that insures all profs are doing their jobs? And just as important: what kind of accreditation does it have? Is it from one of the six recognized regional accrediting bodies? For Oklahoma universities, that is the North Central Association for Colleges and Schools. For my school in California it is the Western Association of Colleges and Schools.
There are some 52 other national accrediting bodies, but few of them have the credibility that these six regional accrediting bodies have. And remember, several schools have no recognized accreditation because a college or university does not have to be accredited to do business in the United States. But transferring course credits from them to an accredited school is often a problem.
Online education can work very well, but it probably works best for students who are self-motivated, organized, and will actually do the work at home by themselves. While there may be some online group work, the individual student back home — or at that corner in Starbucks — will ultimately have to energize himself or herself to do the work.
Middle Ground
There is middle ground between doing degree work in residential universities and online universities. Many schools, like my own Azusa Pacific University near Los Angeles, combine residential and online classes. Additionally, individual residential courses also have a companion online site on which the professor posts documents, syllabi, and assignment dropboxes.
Locally, OU and OSU both use Desire2Learn as their online course management systems, and OU’s website says about 40 percent of its instructors incorporate it into their traditional classroom experience, extending that exprience into the world of the Web.
These systems also have built-in virtual classrooms. Sometimes when a professor must be out of town for a conference or presentation, he or she chooses to hold the class online in that virtual classroom. Most students have found this companion online site to be very helpful and add a welcome dimension to the class.
Thank you for joining our conversation on A Virtual Unknown. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy.
Comments
I agree with Marie by saying that I had no idea how many people take online classes! I personally have never taken a class online. I tried one time to take algebra online and I just could not stand it! I truly value the in class experience and being able to interact with other classmates and your professor. I think that we lose a lot of information and learning when everything is done online ebcuase usually there is no room for discussion back and forth unless it is through email which obviously not immediate responses, therefore losing the enthusiasm of leanring in the classroom. I have a feeling that there will be a boom of online classes in the upcoming years becuase tecnology is becoming so advanced that people will learn to adapt to this type of learning. I believe that it will be almost too simple for students to become so comfortable typing their feelings and thoughts that they will feel like they can express their ideas and knowledge online, but then freeze when they are faced with decesions that require face to face interaction and learning.
I will have to disagree with “Marie” and with “Erica.” Online classes have definitely become the thing to do. In high school friends of mine would take gen. eds online in order to get some of their schooling out of the way. Even in college, i hear about students taking online classes to free up their load. Online classes are great for athletes even so they don’t have to go to a class room, they can go to practice. Then after they can go home and get online and check their homework assignments. Its a much more beneficial and time smart way of completing courses. Personally, I need to take an online course at Citrus college because I am going to be working at a summer camp that starts at the end of May. If I took a class that I had to go to Citrus physically, I would not be able to take this class. But if I did it online, I would be able to access the course online where ever in the U.S. I was.
As a service-disabled veteran, small business owner, and father of three I am unable to take traditional classes. Online classes allow me to complete a degree that I couldn’t earn otherwise. There is much missing from online classes, most notably a sense of community and the ability to interact with the professor. On several occasions I have much work into an assignment only to realize I misinterpreted what the professor was looking for. In a traditional academic environment I would just ask. Group assignments create a particular challenge with fellow students all coming from different home universities and timezones. For these reason, I find that online courses to be more challenging than traditional university courses. The benefit of online courses is I am unable to rely on the professor and merely regurgitate the opinion he or she already holds. I am forced to do my own research and formulate my own opinions with the added benefit of doing it on my own time. In this respect, I think the online degree seeker mirrors the larger online “web 2.0″ community.
I’ve taken a few online courses throughout my college experience, and I honestly don’t find it the best way for a student to actually learn anything. I find myself to be a pretty good student, I get all A’s and B’s, and I do have a desire to learn. Yet, I wouldn’t say that the experience of an online class is as much the responsibility of the professor as it is the students own responsibility that learning is actually taking place. It’s hard to believe that a student could sit through a class two or three times a week for an hour or more and not learn one thing. However, it is completely possible to take an online course, do the assignments, and actually receive a good grade without learning a darn thing. I can admit that in all the online courses I’ve taken I haven’t taken a bit away from it. That isn’t to say that I couldn’t take something away from it if I wanted to, but it seems to me that online classes practically encourage the laziness that so many college students already struggle with. If I can pass a class I don’t really want to take easily without ever having to actually attend a class period and see the professor face-to-face, why not? That is why I would never take an online course in my major, because it is almost too much responsibility for me to make sure I’m learning something. When it comes to the general ed classes I have no interest in though, I am quick to hop on the online class train! I don’t mean to be pessimistic, I think the internet and school online is a huge advantage for our generation and it opens many doors. However, I just can’t honestly see very many college students, unless they are abnormally motivated or incredibly eager to get something out of the class, realistically learn a great deal.
Online courses are great for working students. I have decided to take online courses for the convenience of studying when I have time. On my lunch break, when I get home from work or before I go to sleep at night. I think that it takes a great deal of discipline for both the student and instructor. I agree with the statement “an online course is only as good or as bad as the instructor teaching it”. It is hard to really get a feel for how your instructor’s style and the way that he/she grades assignments. Furthermore, getting feedback on graded assignments is often sparse. I think this creates a perfect environment for not so perfect learning. If you cannot get adequate feedback, how can you improve on future assignments? If online courses create a better way of communication for the students and instructor, then I think that these courses can truly succeed.
I think having online classes is perfect for those students who lack time or have other obligations that would make it impossible to be part of classroom setting.
It is extremely important to be part of your education. I believe the professor does have a lot to do with what you get from your online experience, but ultimately we are responsible for our education. Upon choosing to enroll in an online course you are depriving yourself of a lot of things that a classroom setting provides. As a student you have to try your best to fill the gaps between the classroom education and online education. “Like any course, an online course is only as good or as bad as the instructor teaching it.” I would have to say that this statement is true, and especially in an online course. E-mail is mostly the only form of communication, and that makes it difficult to be fully involved in the learning process. Based on personal experience, I had three online classes one of the professors was extremely involved and he helped me really understand the material, because he quick e-mail responses.
Coming out of highschool in Van Nuys and entering a University setting, I never knew or even thought of the idea of having online classes. When I first heard 4 years ago, I was blown away. Many people now a days have full times jobs, children to take care of, or are out of town on business. They do not have the time to attend to classes regularly. Online classes to me have made the learning experience so much better and convient. You can be sitting in bed and doing homework in New York, for a College or University that is in California. This amazes me. Being a basketball player and traveling, online classes are very convient because I do not fall behind and am always aware of everything happening in the classes. Everything you would need in there to help you. There are even chat programs now a days that allows you to connect to your professor and chat with them live. Although it is a person’s own preferance, many people like the school setting environment, online classes have helped many people that had the hope of returning to school but did not have the time or opportunity to do this. I am really starting to like this virtual world. It is always there when you need it, and you do not need to spend hours looking for parking.
During my first two years her at APU, I did not know the luxury of taking online courses. Being a student athlete, I always found it stressful when it came time to pick classes. Because of practices and games, I found it difficult to find classes that fit around my tennis schedule. Although many professors are accommodating to student athletes, some aren’t and have penalized me for missing classes even though I turned in my homework on time and did well on exams. With online classes, I able to clear up my busy schedule and continue to excel in my studies. I agree with the article that it takes a special kind of teacher and student, one who are self motivated and organized.
I feel like the Online Classroom is great. Both for taking entire programs for a degree and if you just want to take one or two classes online. I feel like this has really helped a lot of people be able to go back to school and get their degree or just finish school as well. With this new way of doing school we have opened up a multitude of options for people with very little time to go back to school and fit it into their schedules. I feel like this has also helped out the college student as well because it gives the every day college student the chance to free up some more hours during their day so maybe they could go get a job while they are at school or so that they can play sports while they are at school. I feel like the pros out weigh the cons by a lot because there are so many great things that the online classroom does for teachers and students. For example it saves paper which in turn helps our environment. Teachers can post grades faster, can send out notes, messages, power points etc. So in the end the online classroom is one of the great advantages we have discovered.
Talking about the business of online classrooms is not my usually conversation starter, however, I have had an increasing number of fellow students mention them here and there. For me online classes are not all that exciting. I already have to perform most of my college course work staring at a computer screen, so I value in-class lectures (of course it certainly helps when the class is engaging and enthusiastic but that is beside the point). Since I have become a college student, I have recently taken note and asked questions on certain online classes. For the most part the responses I receive are less than enthusiastic about the whole idea. For example, “Only take an online course if you plan to complete a ton of busy work”, or “you need a lot of discipline to stay dedicated to online classes”. And in the end the online class is not as fulfilling as one would be in a regular setting. I have decided to take two online courses next term but not because I want to, I’m really just trying to make room in my schedule to work more and add more classes so I’m able to take more units. When I hear of certain people gaining degrees from all online schools such as University of Phoenix, it tells me the schooling actually works, but it just doesn’t seem professional to me. If I were an employer I would take someone who actually went to a real University over and online degree just because of the physical commitment. Although, that is not to say anything bad about online degrees because I believe they are a great system for full-time workers to gain a great education.
Online classes are an interesting phenomenon to me. I have taken a total of three online classes (one which I am currently in) throughout my college experience. In just those three classes, I have had a range of awful to great. I completely agree with this post that it largely depends on the professor. My awful experience was due to a professor who rarely appeared to be “in” the class and was terrible at communicating otherwise. This is definitely a risk when taking an online class, but the convenience and accessibility (depending on the internet reliability) can’t be beat. In my positive experiences of online classes, I will say that I learned just about as much as I would have if I had been in a traditional classroom. It is largely about the professor, but it also has to do with what the student is willing to put into it.
Online classes and online universities is a foreign concept to me. I have taken one online class during my four years in college. I have to say I did not like it. I would forget about the class during the week unless I was at my computer taking a quiz or reading the lecture. While other classes that I would attend I found myself thinking about the class and material learned in the class. I realize I enjoy the classroom time to learn and engage with other students and the professor. I did not know that some people obtain their degrees purely from online classes. I think this would be difficult and it would be a completely different approach to learning. I think there is an aspect to learning that is community based and that this communal aspect is essential for learning. I have found that through discussions and classroom time at college I find that other ideas are a spring board to my own, as well as an avenue to think and learn in a completely different way than individual. I think there can be a positive aspect to online classes, however there is something to be gained from attending classes in person.
I remember the first time I heard about “online classes”. My aunt who was in her thirties was going back to school to get her Masters…but online. This was easier for her because she has three sons, is a single mom, and is already teaching full time. Now she was able to go to school when she was able to; whether it was six in the morning or midnight, it did not matter. However, until reading this blog I was unaware that colleges can be offering courses even if the college is not accredited. It is important to make sure the college is accredited because otherwise your degree might not even really count. Many people are unaware that colleges can offer courses while not being accredited. Colleges are using this to their advantage. They will market people who have not been in school for awhile so their knowledge on issues like this is not up to par. It is important to do your homework on online classes before you start doing the homework for the online classes.
My online classes have been fairly easy. I wasn’t even impressed with the Apu classes I had to take online. These classes, as stated in the article where very impersonal. I agreed strongly with the drawbacks and positives of online courses. I think the entire idea on online courses still has much room to improve. The mediums of facebook, blogs, myspace, and chat rooms have been fairly successful.
A lot of the world today is becoming technologically driven. That is why so many of the classrooms are bringing online options into play. Having sites such as Blackboard make it easy for students to turn in assignments without wasting ink and paper. It also makes it easy for professors to grade papers without misplacing them or confusing them with another class. All in all, the online aspect of courses helps to organize everything. The option of taking a class solely online is also very helpful because it has allowed me to take more credits in the actual classroom. I am able to complete the online material on my own time instead of having a set time I have to show up to class. The way universities are run is definitely transforming, and in my opinion, it is for the better.
Online courses are the only reason I have been able to continue to be a full time student. I have a 7 month old son and am in my last semester of college at APU taking 5 online courses! Online courses are definitely more difficult and require a great amount of self discipline but I couldn’t be more thankful for them. They very convenient and allow many, like myself, to attain a college degree while working and or being a parent.
Online courses seem to be gaining momentum in a lot of schools. It will be interesting to see what the relative popularity of online vs. onsite courses will be. You can’t get the in-person social interaction from online courses that you can from an on-campus experience, of course.
It is interesting to me that even school such as Harvard have some form of online classes. I think they can be good if you are a busy parent or working a majority of the week. However if you are able to be a student, I do not think online classes are the way to learn. I have taken two and I took them because I needed units and knew they would be easy. They were. Being in classroom environment not only teaches you interaction, but it also teaches you time management. Two very important things in the working world. Online classes are a way to ease back into school or earn a credit or two, but I don’t believe they are a way to earn a degree.
This article was interesting because I never knew that so many people took online classes or even got their degrees completely online. For me, I enjoy the classroom setting and the whole college experience. Sitting at home on the computer for class seems very boring and I would find myself searching for motivation and excitement to do my school work. However, I can see a benefit to online courses for people who are working full time, married, have kids etc. They seem to be the type who would not have much time to attend a classroom setting. I think that in order to get the most out of a college education a classroom setting would be ideal because it teaches people skills and how to speak your mind out loud in front of others and how to work in groups.